In electrical systems switching regulators, are often used to supply power (voltage or current) to a load. Certain conditions, failures, settings, short-circuits, or operational modes may cause the load to consume more current than the regulator can continuously provide or more current than the load should continuously consume. These and other over-current situations may result in degraded system performance, damage to the regulator, damage to the load, unsafe or hazardous conditions, and/or the like.
Switching regulators often include active current limiting circuitry to prevent over-current conditions. Active current limiting circuitry may be used, for example, to sense the onset of an over-current situation and open a switch circuit, hold open a switch circuit, prevent a switch circuit from closing, and/or the like, to selectively disable the transfer of additional energy. This circuitry provides some time for energy to be dissipated by the load or other circuitry before the switch circuit is again closed to transfer additional energy.